LOCATION BEDWYR NV

Established Series
Rev. EWB/WED/JVC
05/2016

BEDWYR SERIES

The Bedwyr series consists of shallow, well drained soils that formed in residuum and colluvium derived from sedimentary rocks. Bedwyr soils are on hills. Slopes are 4 to 30 percent. The mean annual precipitation is about 150 mm and the mean annual temperature is about 11 degrees C.

TAXONOMIC CLASS: Clayey, smectitic, mesic, shallow Typic Natrargids

TYPICAL PEDON: Bedwyr very gravelly loam--rangeland. (Colors are for dry soils unless otherwise noted.) The soil surface is partially covered with approximately 30 percent gravel and 6 percent cobbles.

A--0 to 5 cm; light gray (10YR 7/2) very gravelly loam, brown (10YR 4/3) moist; moderate medium platy structure; soft, very friable, slightly sticky and slightly plastic; common fine interstitial and common fine and medium tubular pores; 45 percent gravel and 2 percent cobbles; strongly alkaline (pH 8.6); abrupt smooth boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)

2Btn--5 to 10 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; moderate fine and medium prismatic structure parting to strong medium subangular blocky; hard, friable, moderately sticky and moderately plastic; few very fine roots; common fine interstitial pores; many distinct clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; slightly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.2); clear smooth boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)

2Btnk--10 to 25 cm; light yellowish brown (10YR 6/4) clay, yellowish brown (10YR 5/4) moist; moderate fine and medium prismatic structure parting to strong medium angular blocky; hard, firm, very sticky and very plastic; many very fine and fine and common medium roots; many fine interstitial and few fine tubular pores; many distinct clay films on faces of peds and lining pores; few fine generally rounded soft masses of lime; strongly effervescent; very strongly alkaline (pH 9.4); clear wavy boundary. (13 to 20 cm thick)

2C--25 to 33 cm; pale yellow (2.5Y 7/4) gravelly clay, light yellowish brown (2.5Y 6/4) moist; massive; slightly hard, friable, very sticky and very plastic; few very fine roots; few fine interstitial and tubular pores; 25 percent gravel; slightly effervescent; moderately alkaline (pH 8.2); clear wavy boundary. (5 to 10 cm thick)

2Cr--33 cm; water-laid tuffaceous bedrock.

TYPE LOCATION: Churchill County, Nevada; about 26 miles east-southeast of Fallon near the southern end of the Stillwater Range; 2,500 feet south and 870 feet east of the northwest corner of section 7, T. 17 N., R. 33 E.; USGS Frenchman 7.5 minute topographic quadrangle; latitude 39 degrees 21 minutes 03.7 seconds N and longitude 118 degrees 19 minutes 43.0 seconds W; WGS84 Decimal Degrees 39.3510278 latitude, -118.328611 longitude.

RANGE IN CHARACTERISTICS:
Soil moisture: Usually dry, intermittently moist in the winter and spring, and dry in the summer and fall; typic aridic soil moisture regime.
Mean annual soil temperature: 12 to 14 degrees C.
Depth to base of the natric horizon: 23 to 38 cm.

Depth to bedrock: 25 to 50 cm to a paralithic contact. The bedrock is sedimentary rock such as tuffaceous shale and mudstone.

Particle-size control section - Clay content: 45 to 55 percent.
Rock fragments: 0 to 5 percent gravel.

A horizon
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 3 through 5 moist.
Chroma: 2 through 4, dry or moist.
Reaction: Slightly alkaline through strongly alkaline.

2Btn and 2Btnk horizons
Hue: 7.5YR or 10YR
Value: 5 or 6 dry, 4 through 6 moist.
Chroma: 3 or 4, dry or moist.
Texture: Clay or silty clay.
Structure: Moderate or strong, fine and medium prismatic parting to subangular blocky or angular blocky.
Salinity (EC): 2 to 8 mmhos/cm
Sodicity (SAR): 13 to 30

2C horizon
Hue: 7.5YR through 2.5Y.
Value: 6 or 7 dry, 5 through 7 moist.
Chroma: 4 or 6, dry or moist.
Texture: Gravelly clay or gravelly silty clay.
Clay content: 45 to 60 percent.
Rock fragments: 15 to 30 percent gravel.
Reaction: Moderately alkaline or strongly alkaline.

COMPETING SERIES: This is the Mudray series. Mudray soils have mean annual soil temperature of 8 to 12 degrees C. and are not dry in all parts of the soil moisture control section more than three-fourths of the time (cumulative) when the soil temperature at the bedrock contact is 5 degrees C or higher.

GEOGRAPHIC SETTING: Bedwyr soils are on hills. They formed in residuum and colluvium derived from sedimentary rocks. The sediment composing these rocks is Tertiary in age, tuffaceous in nature, and was deposited in a lacustrine paleoenvironment. Slopes are 4 to 30 percent. Elevations range from 1,280 to 1,710 meters. The climate is cool-arid with cool, moist winters and hot, dry summers. The mean annual precipitation is 100 to 200 mm, the mean annual temperature is 11 to 12 degrees C, and the frost-free period is 100 to 120 days.

GEOGRAPHICALLY ASSOCIATED SOILS: These are the Celeton and Weena soils. Celeton soils are loamy and formed in residuum derived from diatomite. Weena soils are loamy with 18 to 27 percent clay.

DRAINAGE AND SATURATED HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY: Well drained; high or very high surface runoff; low saturated hydraulic conductivity.

USE AND VEGETATION: Bedwyr soils are used for livestock grazing and wildlife habitat. The present vegetation is mainly shadscale, bud sagebrush, Bailey greasewood, Indian ricegrass, and bottlebrush squirreltail.

DISTRIBUTION AND EXTENT: Western Nevada. These soils are not extensive. MLRA 27.

MLRA SOIL SURVEY REGIONAL OFFICE (MO) RESPONSIBLE: Davis, California.

SERIES ESTABLISHED: Pershing County, Nevada (East Part), 1986.

REMARKS: Diagnostic horizons and features recognized in this pedon are:
Ochric epipedon - The zone from the soil surface to 5 cm (A horizon).
Natric horizon - The zone from 5 to 25 cm (2Btn and 2Btnk horizons).
Paralithic contact - The boundary at 33 cm to underlying soft bedrock (2Cr layer).
Particle-size control section - The zone from the soil surface to 33 cm (A, 2Btn, 2Btnk, and 2C horizons).

ADDITIONAL DATA: NASIS type and site ID 07NV770Y008jbf.

National Cooperative Soil Survey
U.S.A.